17 June (Part 1) - Toe the yellow line and bring Bexley to a halt
If ever there was proof that
over-zealous road traffic control - or in
Bexley’s case poorly thought out traffic control - is very unpopular you only
have to look at what happened to the BiB web stats when the Upton Road box
junction was featured last Sunday. Site visitors shot above the Saturday level -
unusual - and on Monday went through the roof. Not of course to the extent they
did when lies were made up about John Kerlen and Bexley Council’s friends went ahead and charged him.
They claimed John encouraged Twitter users to post dog faeces through a Councillor’s letter box. He did no such thing and mentioned
neither a name nor an address to be targetted.
If I remember correctly about 50,000 visitors learned something of Bexley
Council’s dishonesty and spite that day, we probably won’t see the like of that again.
Barnet Council has created ten Upton Roads
and their local blogger,
Mr. Mustard, a NotoMob member, has written about it.
His comments are just as relevant to Bexley as
to Barnet. Why would a Council which hasn’t got the money to keep libraries under
their control be able to spend around £36,000 a junction on paint and camera equipment?
I know that Bexley’s senior councillors are saying it is a road safety measure
- I asked the direct question and that was the reply -
to which the obvious retort is to ask why it was that the proposal to
enforce box junctions with cameras didn’t come from the Transport Committee. The
proposal was put forward as a budget measure. Bexley Council really cannot stop lying can it?
All road users should read Mr. Mustard’s blog and look at his video. He
says that drivers should proceed as instructed and bring Barnet to a standstill
which is exactly what BiB readers were saying to me.
Was annoyed to read about the latest camera con. What
needs to be done is motorists observe the road rules to the letter and have complete
gridlock from Welling and also outside Danson Park.
Also I hear rumours of council people taking vast cash back handers for contracts to
resurface roads that don't need resurfacing and also contractors bidding for contracts
having to include bribes to council officials to receive work.
I’ve occasionally heard those rumours too. Obviously no one is going to talk about it
so it must remain only an unsubstantiated rumour.